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Press Release B'nai B'rith Europe

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

White March in Paris to pay tribute to Mireille Knoll, The Lodges of B'nai B'rith France are mobilizedB'nai B'rith is in mourning

Mrs Mireille Knoll zl, 85-years-old, survivor of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, was murdered in atrocious circumstances then burned in her apartment in the 11th district of Paris because she was Jewish on March 23rd almost one year to the day after the murder of Sarah Halimi zl.

Mrs Mireille Knoll zl was the mother of a fellow brother of B'nai B'rith.

Serge Dahan, President of B'nai B'rith Europe and all the members of B'nai B'rith address their most sincere condolences to Mrs Mireille Knoll's children, grandchildren and to her entire family, and assure them in these terrible moments of their warm friendship and fraternal support.

Serge Dahan, President of B'nai B'rith Europe is horrified by this barbaric murder and invites all the members of B'nai B'rith movement to take part in the "WHITE MARCH" organized on Wednesday March 28th at 18h30, Place de la Nation in Paris to state "that is enough".

In these days before Pessach, the Executive Committee of B'nai B'rith Europe, asks all the members of the organization to light a candle this upcoming Friday, March 30th to pay tribute to Mrs Mireille Knoll zl.

Press Release B'nai B'rith Europe

“In Israel there are 6,500 startup firms registered, which makes it worldwide number 2 in absolute figures.Â Regarding the number of startups per capita Israel is by far the number 1, which earned it the title of “Startup Nation”.

The B’nai B’rith Franz Rosenzweig Lodge Düsseldorf in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation organised a podium discussion about the innovative Israeli economy and the potential for German-Israeli cooperations.

After greetings by the Director of the Northrhine-Westphalia branch of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and by Dr. Michael Naor, president of the B’nai B’rith Lodge, 4 Experts presented different aspects of the topic.

Doron Abrahami, the Israeli attaché for Economy and Commerce at the Embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin (photo, 1. from left), gave an overview about Israeli innovations, current trends of international investments in Israel as well as large-scale research & development activities of global players in the country.

Dr. Markus Gick, Senior Project manager at the Bertelsmann Foundation (photo, 1. from right), reported about a study he did about German-Israeli economic relations and highlighted the benefits of the Israeli High-Tech Ecosystem for German firms.

Roy Naor, an associate at the international law firm DWF (photo, 3. from right), gave an overview about legal and procedural aspects in the bilateral economic relations. He especially elaborated on the area of Cybersecurity as one of the most important and interesting fields for German firms, since most of the technologies in this area come from Israel and the USA.

Dr. Philipp Raidt, Head of Portfolio at Axel Springer Digital Classifieds in Berlin (photo, 2. from left), presented the experiences of his enterprise having so far invested in 3 firms in Israel. He described the typical atmosphere in the country and the typical mentality of Israelis, hinting at helpful approaches in order to gain from it.

About 120 guests came to the event, which took place at the Business Club of Düsseldorf (“Wirtschaftsclub"). Among them Christoph Dammermann, the State Secretary in the Ministry for Economy and Commerce of the State of Northrhine-Westphalia, Dr. Oded Horowitz, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Jewish Community, representatives of the City of Düsseldorf, of the Chamber of Commerce and a number of personalities from local public life.

After a round of discussion with all the lecturers guests were invited to a get-together with wine and canapés, which enabled further networking in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere".

Dr. Michael Naor, president

B'nai B'rith Düsseldorf Franz Rosenzweig Lodge

Press Release B’nai B’rith Europe

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

B'nai B'rith Europe co-organised a conference in the European Parliament for the International Women's Day.

B’nai B’rith Europe co-organised with the European Jewish Community Center a conference entitled "Double-glass ceiling ? Experiences of Christian, Jewish, Muslim & Buddhist Women. Challenges facing women in patriarchal and secular societies" at the European Parliament in honor of the International Women’s Day, on the 8th of March 2018.

After the introduction of the theme by Members of the European Parliament Wajid Khan (S&D) and Roberta Metsola (EPP), Director of B’nai B’rith Europe emphasized the importance of equity in the workplace, which puts in place optimal conditions for workers to fully contribute to the success of the company they work for and establishes bridges between communities (speech attached).

The dialogue between the different speakers was moderated by Alfiaz Vaiya, European Parliament’s coordinator for the anti-racism and diversity intergroup (ARDI), who successively gave the floor to Yael Leibovitz, secular Israeli, Chain Zisman, Israeli Jewish observant, Manel Mselmi, reporter for the blog Ecofeminism and Ines Wouters, co-founder of Bodhicharya and specialised lawyer in religious discriminations. The speakers expressed their perspectives as woman of different faiths.

The conference allowed to illustrate the opportunity gaps between secular and religious women with concrete examples, underlined the communication challenge between people from different cultural backgrounds and highlighted what needs to be done to end discriminations in the workplace. Member of the European Parliament Wajid Khan reminded that women’s rights must be protected, "not only today, but also every single day of the year".

Press Release B'nai B'rith Europe

Friday, 09 March 2018

President of B'nai B'rith Europe Serge Dahan, Permanent Representative of B'nai B'rith International to UNESCO Stephane Teicher, Director of the International Affairs Office of B'nai B'rith International in Paris Jacques Jacubert, met with His Excellency Sir SHELUKINDO, Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania in France.

Tuesday, 6th of March at 11 a.m. President of B'nai B'rith Europe Serge Dahan, Permanent representative of B'nai B'rith International to UNESCO Stephane Teicher and Director of the International Affairs Office of B'nai B'rith International in Paris Jacques Jacubert, were invited by His Excellency Sir SHELUKINDO, Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania in France and Permanent Delegate for Tanzania to UNESCO.

This event, organised by B'nai B'rith Office in New York, took place within the framework of meetings and dialogues between the delegation of B'nai B'rith International and diplomats, leaders of UNESCO in Paris, members of the United Nations Human Rights Council and ambassadors, who will be present during the 37th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

H.E. Sir SHELUKINDO received Serge Dahan, Stephane Teicher and Jacques Jacubert to discuss in an open-minded and in a constructive way the decisions of the Executive Council of UNESCO regarding Jerusalem, the necessary actions related to the Holocaust Remembrance duty, and the fight against anti-semitism and racism.

Press release of B’nai B’rith Europe

B'nai B'rith Europe denounces and condemns the "march of Lukov ", neo-Nazi demonstration which is to be held on February 17th in Sofia

The Bulgarian National union organizes on February 17th a "torchlight parade" in Sofia in honour of Bulgarian fascist Hristo Lukov.

Nazis, xenophobes and anti-Semite slogans are chanted during this neo-Nazi demonstration, called "march of Lukov" which is held since 2003.

The president of B'nai B'rith Europe, Serge Dahan, firmly condemns the "march of Lukov" of February 17th, a demonstration in the glory of the Nazi general Hristo Lukov, who took part in the repression of the Bulgarian Jewish community before and during the Second World War; Hristo Lukov was the chief of the Union of the Bulgarian National Legions.

In a context of anti-Semitism growing in Europe and the multiplications of anti-Jewish actions in Bulgaria, B'nai B'rith Europe asks political leaders and representatives of Bulgarian civil society to intensify their efforts to prevent the holding of this demonstration and to publicly denounce the organizers of the Walk of Lukov who promote hatred and rejection of the other.

The President of the B'nai B'rith Europe Lodge of Sofia, Rafael Chichek, also reported many anti-Semite demonstrations in Bulgaria which reminds the Nazi hate of the years 1930.

The Jewish community recalled in an official statement of B'nai B'rith of Sofia the "public and media appearances of Metodi Andreev and Ivo Hristov, civils servant of the ministry of Defense, who made the salute in front of the cameras; the profanation of the Jewish cemetery of Sofia, the profanation of the Alyosha monument in Plovdiv and the monument dedicated in memory of Jewish prisoners burned in the camp of Kaylaka in Pleven".

The President of B'nai B'rith Europe points out that Bulgaria holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency since January 2018 at the council of the European Union, request the Bulgarian Government to take appropriate measures against the authors of these anti-Semite demonstrations and expresses the wish to see the Bulgarian authorities denouncing the walk of Lukov as a manifestation of the ideology of hatred and historical revisionism.

During the two last years, the march was technically prohibited, but was authorized to continue nevertheless authorized to continue without intervention of the police.

President of B’nai B’rith Europe visit in Auschwitz

Wednesday, 07 February 2018

President of B'nai B'rith Europe visit in Auschwitz

Serge Dahan, President of B'nai B'rith Europe and Member of the Executive Committee of CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish institutions of France) took part Sunday 4th of February in a remembrance trip organized by the CRIF.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest concentration and extermination camp of Europe.

Serge Dahan was present together with Francis Kalifat, President of CRIF, to accompany many leading figures and French elected officials who took part with emotion to this trip to transmit this memory of the genocide and to become the witnesses of the witnesses and never forget.

"We all came back deeply moved; to go on the place makes it possible to realize and to become aware of our duty of transmission and education. We must never again let pass acts or anti-Semites words" declared Serge Dahan.

Press release of B’nai B’rith Europe

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

B'nai B'rith Europe is outraged by the profanation of the monument in memory of the Jews of Thessaloniki victims of the Holocaust and condemns this wretched act

A few days before the ceremonies of the International Day of the Holocaust a monument set up in memory of the Jews of Thessaloniki who were deported and exterminated in Nazi camps was profaned by activists of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, Greek ultranationalist of far right political party.

This loose anti-Semitic act occurred at the time of a demonstration of the Golden Dawn far right party in which tens of thousands of racist and xenophobe activists took part.

Demonstrators profaned the memorial with graffiti where one can read the name of the Golden Dawn organization and the nationalist symbols from ancient Greece.The same neo-Nazis activists distributed two days later anti-Semitic tracts close to the White Tower, one of the symbols of Thessaloniki located on the sea front.

The Greek city of Thessaloniki sheltered an important Jewish community until physical elimination by the Nazis of the vast majority of the members of this community.54 000 Jews of Salonika were off-set in the death camps Nazis, nearly 98 % of the total Jewish population of Thessaloniki died during the Second World War.

The Greek Minister Evangelos Venizelos declared "It is an abhorrent act that is a brutal insult to the memory not only of the Jewish Community, but of the Greek people as a whole".

Greece is soiled by these profanations; the European Jewish community is wounded. More than ever, the mobilization and vigilance must be levelled to fight these demonstrations of anti-Semite hate and this will of memory destruction.B'nai B'rith Europe demands from the Greek government that everything should be done as soon as possible in order to arrest and judge the authors of this odious act according to the horror of their action.

Serge Dahan, President of B'nai B'rith Europe, is outraged and condemns with anger and emotion this wretched act.